Ben Wright's Spinning Reel Report: October 2013

OCTOBER 2013

TRICKS OR TREATS !!!???

TRICKS:
    Alcedo MARK 1V E+WB BUY-NOW @ 599.00 ended early by seller, no longer available ?

Airex Apache missing a screw Start @75.00 No Bids

American Classic 1V like new w/cloth bag start @750.00
Buy-Now @1,000.00 No Bids

Cargem 55 Mariner exc+ buy-now @ 599.00 ended early by seller, no longer available

Japanese Opus-1 exc+ w/case start @949.00 buy-now
@1250.00 No Bids

TREATS:
Air lite CF exc @ 9.99

Cascade 99 (Sportex 60 UK) exc- @ 15.50

Heddon 283 ewb @ 12.00

Edge Water by Goodall CF ewb @ 25.25

Mepps Super Meca Red slight wear @ 61.00

Mepps Super Meca Orange slight wear @ 66.00

Pflueger Pelican 1020 e+wb @ 29.37

Shakespeare 1125 CF w odd puh button @ 13.99

Super rare Shakespeare 2064 w/MPU like new @52.99

Featured Reels:
Abu Ambassadeur Gold Collection #336 9 bait casting reels and a Cardinal 33CDL complete with glass/wood case
@ 4,666.35
French Mystery reel nib @ 1,399.44
Mitchell second version exc- @ 625.00
Orvis 50A FB exc @ 305.00
Pflueger Saturn 84 CF e+wb @ 95.99
Wright & Mcgill ECT like new by Ofmer @ 195.50

Abu:
Box only for a model 888 with a Dam Quick Hobby reel exc
@ 157.50
Suveran S3000M nib @ 299.00

English:
Ambidex mk six exc @ 118.94
Helical Salmon size ewb @ 115.73
Illingworth no 4 paint wear, foot filed @ 289.31

French:
L Perrot no 2 large chip in handle knob @111.57
Mepps Super Meca red exc @ 172.49

German:
Atlantis exc w/rare box @ 132.50

Heddon:
236 nib @ 29.95
242 nib @ 39.50

Italian:
Alcedo Micron curved leg e+wb @ 199.00
    "         "          "       "   nib @ 285.01
Cargem Lancer ROD #25 lite deluxe  exc+ @ 99.00
Winio exc @ 82.50
Zangi Trio second version needs cleaning @ 132.30

Mitchell:
common 300 nib @ 129.62
330 Otomatic nib @ 141.50

Penn:
704 second version nib @ 102.50
722 first version e+wb @ 51.00

Zebco:
Red Rhino #1 of 300 CF and a 33 50th anniv. #57 both like new start @ 949.00 NO BIDS

Other Reels:
Flo Line Lou Meyers nib @ 175.00
Humphreys 4A ewb @ 57.00
Johnson Century CF 100B nib @ 58.00
Merit by Stalder exc- @ 304.69
Taggart model 10 slight wear @ 80.50
Tamco 200 CF ewb @ 82.03
Telecaster, Fihe nib @ 156.87

can't wait to see what next month brings !!
Ben

Voices from the Past: Musky Fishing in the St. Lawrence (1884)

The following article on musky fishing appeared in the July 5, 1884 issue of The Daily Evening Traveller, and features a nice description of musky fishing in the St. Lawrence River.

THE MUSKALLONGE.

Habits of the King of the St. Lawrence -- How He Is Fished For

A correspondent of The New York Times, who has been fishing in the" Upper St. Lawrence river, writes:

The muskallonge has been known to grow to the length of six feet, and to weigh 80 pounds. Those of the St. Lawrence never attain that size, so far as is known, but in the lakes of Miehiganja "six-footer" is not uncommon. The waters of the Upper Mississippi also abound in muskallonge of the larger size. A forty-pounder is no rarity in St. Lawrence waters.

The angler who has never hooked a muskallonge, especially a large one, does not know what exciting sport with the rod is. The muskalionge is the Goliath of the pike family, and his great size, strength and endurance, and his tactics when hooked entitle him to the position of monarch of game fishes. He is built for swiftness and for offensive warfare. He is called to defend himself against no other freshwater fish that swims, but he is the natural enemy of all, being literally, as Halleck has called him, "a fierce and dauntless marauder." Anglers who are expert in both salmon and muskallonge fishing do not hesitate to say that the latter is much the more cunning and determined in the methods he adopts to escape the hook. Quick as the salmon is, and as sudden in his turnings and whirlings and leaping in manoeuvering to break the angler's hold, the muakallonge is still quicker.

The muskallonge is a panther in cunning and ferocity and as ravenous as a wolf. He lays in wait for prey in the weeds along the shore and in places where instinct teaches him that other fishes on which he feeds pass to and fro or congregate. He feeds on his own kind as readily as on other species, for, like all the pike family, his appetite is cannibalistic as well as insatiable. A favorite lurking place of the muskallonge is in narrow channels connecting wider portions of a river or parts of a lake. He catches the fish that pass to and fro In the confines of the channel at a great disadvantage, and, dashing from his hiding-place like a thunderbolt, seize3 his prey with greater ease and certainty. When lying in wait the muskallonge is as motionless as a rock. There is no more evidence of life about him, save an almost imperceptible and cautious working of the gills and a gentle movement of a fin now and then, than there is about the log by the side of which be may be lying. But the instant a pike or a bass or any living thing that will make a toothsome mouthful for him passes within sight the motionless object darts with the velocity of a cannon-ball from its hiding-place, and what it aimed to seize it seldom fails to strike.

The greed and pugnacity of the pike family is proverbial, a pike a foot long having no hesitancy in attacking a fish of a less bellicose species three times its size, and the greed and courage of the muskallonge are In proportions to its dimensions. A local St. Lawrence river angler relates how he was fishing for muskallonge by "skittering" a minnow in Goose Bay. This is a favorite method of angling for this fish, and is the familiar old-fashioned style of pickerel fishing on the small ponds of this and other States, except that the minnow used is much larger, and the tackle proportioned to the powerful game it is expected to kill, and the still more important exception that the rod is long, slender and elastic to make the sport more enjoyable and scientific. As the minnow was being skittered along on the edge of a weedy spot, it was seized by a small muskallonge, which was booked. The fisherman had drawn the fish within rive feet of the boat, when suddenly it was seized by one many times larger, which rushed to the top of the water, and bore the smaller one away under the very noses of the occupants of the boat. The large muskallonge rushed back ratio deep water, and soon gorged its victim. Aider a long fight it was landed in the boat. The small fish was in its throat, and the minnow was in the throat of the smaller fish, which weighed over five pounds. The big mukallonge was a 2O-pounder.

Trolling and skittering are the best methods for catching muskallonge, Still-fishing is not attended with good results, as the large fish are but seldom caught in that way. It is illegal to spear or net the muskallonge, but it is its own protection generally against both the spear and the net, its cunning and agility being almost invariably a match for the skill of those who bring the illegal methods against it. The man who succeeds in spearing a muskallonge has earned the prize, no matter if it be gained by a barbarous practice. It is related by a well-known angler for muskallonge that in a pool where a number of these fish of the largest size were known to lurk, some fishermen determined to draw a seine, as all efforts to catch any of the fish by legitimate means bad failed. The seine was drawn through this pool time and time again, but not a muskallonge was taken. The angler who relates the incident took bis position in a boat, and, holding by one of the buoys of the seine, was drawn after it over the surface for the purpose of investigating how the fish managed to elude the net. Lying with his face close to the water, he says, be could see the fish on the bottom plainly, and as the net approached them they ploughed their wedge-shaped heads in the sand and made a passage under the seine along the bottom of the pool.

Much depends on the skill and dexterity of the man at the oars in successfully landing a muskallonge, if the fish is a big one. The writer had a guide who seemed to attach more importance to recounting past exploits of his own in killing muskallonge than he did to furthering the present efforts of his employer In the same line, and the latter bad the pleasure of losing the only fish he hooked in the day's fishing he was enabled to enjoy—a muskallonge that would have tipped the beam at 25 pounds at least. He' jumped several times from the water at least 10 feet clear and shook his head in furious efforts to release himself from the hook, while his eyes glared like a tiger's. He was reeled nearly within reach of the gaffhook, when the man at the oara had his attention attracted to something else. The boat swayed round. The line slackened, and the infuriated fish turned like a flash and dartod down stream. There was an instant s slowing up in his speed as the line was again drawn taut, and then he went on, leaving the angler a semicircular piece of his jaw as a memento of the day.

But a few days have now to elapse before the opening of the trout fishing season on Long Island, N.Y. Rods have been looked over and got in readiness, and the merits of the split bamboo seven-ounce thoroughly canvassed. Artificial flies by hundreds are taken out of their hybernating camphor and aired, and especially the members of the South Side Sportman's club are hoping for a good day on the first of April when the game beauties will be brought to. basket by the hundreds.

-- Dr. Todd

The News of the Week: Oct. 28, 2013

Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!

THE MONDAY 10: The Ten Fishing Stories of the Week You Need to Know

Police arrest confessed killer of pro angler Jimmy Johnson.



Fly fishing is not as complicated as it looks.

Famed British angler John Wilson is pulling up stakes for Thailand.

Marlin nearly skewers angler.

Fly fishing by night in Florida.



Australia loves it Fulling Mill flies.



The Musky Fly Fishing World Championships hit the Big Chip.

Fly fishing enters the Wyoming senate race via Dick Cheney.

A new fly fishing film Not Yet Begun to Fight gets a sterling review from The Hollywood Reporter.

Finishing with a Flourish: The historic Gunflint Lodge is for sale (I was once a fishing guide there).

-- Dr. Todd

1000 Words

This week in Hollywood Goes Fishing we get a really nifty image featuring Cornel Wilde and the great Ginger Rogers. Rogers was a noted fly angler, and the shot below comes from the 1947 film It Had to be You. Wilde for his part was a Hungarian-born actor who had a number of leading roles in the 1940s and 1950s that played off his good looks.



-- Dr. Todd

Letterheadings: Pequea Part II

 


Pequea Part II by J.K. Garrett and L.P. Brooks

Last week we discussed the emergence of Harry Clay Kaufman from carefree teenager crafting lures in his spare time to the role of wunderkind tackle producer in Philadelphia, PA. Kaufman, born in Philadelphia on 14 October 1885, had at least two failed tackle businesses under his belt by his twenty-second birthday . It is understandable that he wanted to start over in Strasburg (where his partner Edwin Brown was principal of the Public school) when so many Philadelphians were left with unpaid debts from Harry's earlier failed ventures. Fishing tackle was in the Kaufman blood, as Harry had an older brother and nephew who worked for well known tackle houses and could be of use buying his products, if only he could make the Pequea Works a success.
 
You can count on one hand the number of early tackle companies whose records still exist in sufficient quantity to show much insight into the internal workings of the company. Pequea is one of these few companies. With the reader's permission, we will stray from the usual practice of showing an array of the most artistic and rare examples of their letterhead and turn our attention to paper which focuses on internal Pequea operations and how these related to his customers. In this edition we will discuss the early years when Pequea was just hitting it's stride. Next week we will discuss the golden years of the company and the death of its president.
 
By 1909 Harry had taken a wife (Virginia, who he called Vergie), who was a salaried employee at Pequea. The handwritten letter dated 13 September 1911 (shown here) was penned by Harry from the Republican House hotel in Milwaukee, WI, to Vergie back home. Harry was on a road trip hawking his wares and seems to have met with some success at the Standart Brothers Hardware Corporation of Detroit, Michigan. Apparently Standart wanted to see some Pequea "Plug Baits" and some "gang hooks" with gut leader for fishing with earth worms. He asks Vergie to ensure that the Plugs were perfect in all respects and the worm gangs on the card were of uniform length. We may wonder from this admonition to Vergie if off the shelf items might not have the same quality control as sample items. It is this lack of quality control that would be a constant strain on relations between Pequea and their customers for decades to come. Letters to Pequea may be found by the bushel , sent by irate retailers because of defective Pequea workmanship. Many times the returned items were replaced by Pequea with goods as bad or worse than those which caused the complaints.
 


Why, we may ask, would retail companies continue to do business with such an undependable bunch of folk. The answer is two fold. First much of what Pequea sold did meet the average fisherman's needs. Equally important, the goods were sold at about the lowest prices possible compared to other manufacturers in the tackle industry. Second, Harry was a born salesman. He would promise the moon and stars on his sales trips, Pequea production schedules and quality would be found wanting, and the following year he would show up again and somehow kiss and make up with buyers not yet fully convinced of his duplicity.
 
Our next piece of Pequea paper shows a handwritten payroll list on company letterhead. The payroll is dated for 29 September 1911. A comparison of this list with earlier payrolls shows that he took many of the employees with him to Strasburg that had worked for him in Philadelphia. Even more informative is the inclusion of relatives of his partner Brown and a salary for his wife Vergie. He would have found it hard, if not impossible, to fire friends and relatives, even if his business suffered by their incompetence. Truth be told, Harry had a soft spot for his old friends even if they occasionally proved to be deeply stupid or infirm in their older years.
 


Our next example of internal Pequea paper is page one of a five page order by New York Sporting Goods dated 4 January 1912. The massive amounts and diverse styles of products available from Pequea is stunning. Of course some of the items were produced by other wholesalers and touted as Pequea's own. The five page list  contains great varieties of snelled hooks, leader, sinkers, plug baits and spinners. Not included on this order were many other products available from Pequea such as bobbers, hand lines, swivels, flies, etc. Even if Harry did not always deliver all the goods he promised or in a condition to be usable, he delivered enough to help retailers make money and keep them coming back for more. We repeatedly see invoices from large companies like Shakespeare buying Pequea items and companies like Enterprise Mfg. Co. acting as suppliers to Pequea. Many times we see the same company acting in both capacities (i.e. G. W. Frost of Stevens Point, WI). There must have been very few significant tackle makers or retailers that Pequea did not interact with in some capacity through the years. The vast archive of their available correspondence proves it so.
 


Next week, the golden years of Pequea.

The Friday Funhouse

The Video of the Week

A tutorial on making a fishing lure at home on a lathe.



12 Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them

Instant Collection Alert: Winchester winchester winchester!



Wow! This Shakespeare shipping box is incredible.



A nice Heddon Ice Decoy in the box is a cute find.



I don't recall seeing a Gayle hand-made reel like this one before!



How about a single hook Pikaroon?



A Billinghurst Fly Reel is a nifty birdcage reel.



This CCBC #7000 is really popular.



A Silver Shore Punkinseed #740 is a wonderful find.



Who wouldn't like a Hastings Frog in the box.



This Garcia Conolon rod for Mitchell reels is very rare.



Love this Vom Hofe #621.



A set of 12 bug-and-bass lures is pretty cool.



As always, have a great weekend, and be nice to each other -- and yourself.

-- Dr. Todd

Thursday Review: Lang's Auction Nov. 9 & 10, 2013

Hey! It's Lang's Time again! The annual much anticipated Lang's auction runs November 9 and 10, 2013, beginning at 10:00 EST. You can order the much-improved DVD catalog (very zoomable photos!) or check out the selections on-line at liveauctioneers.com.

We'll have more on this auction next week, but go the Lang's auction for a taste.

-- Dr. Todd

The American Snelled Hook, Part I: A Triple Threat (Pequea - Roberts - Hartmann)

Beginning this week, I'm going to start a new series detailing snelled hook envelopes -- one of my favorite collectables. I'll feature a variety of different styles and kinds of snells, and hopefully give the reader an idea on how great a variety there are of these neat pieces of fishing tackle history.







We'll begin with the Gold Medal Standard Bearer of snelled hooks -- the "Triple Branded" packet with the original store envelope. "Triple Branded" means a snell that we know the manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer for--in this case a Pequea Works snell manufactured for W.F. Roberts Co. and then sold to L.H. Hartmann & Son ca. 1920.

Tracking the history of such snells offer great insight into the tackle trade of any given era.

Let's start with the manufacturer. Due to the style of the card, we know this snelled hook packet originated with the great Pequea Works of Strasburg, Penn. They were responsible for the majority of American snells in the first half of the century. Presided over by the great scoundrel of the tackle industry, Harry Kaufman (profiled by J.K. Garrett and L.P. Brooks in an on-going series on this blog), they manufactured the snells for most East Coast wholesalers of the day, ranging from Ed. K. Tryon to Supplee-Biddle Hardware to W.F. Roberts Co.



The famous "Pequea Tribe" logo was used beginning around 1920 for some wholesale snells, to indicate quality, and also on their own brand name as they began to sell direct.

With this particular snelled hook packet, Pequea manufactured them in large quantities and then wholesaled them to W.F. Roberts Co. of Washington, D.C. -- who acted as a jobber, distributing such goods to a number of stores, including (as we can tell from the label) Hartmann's Sporting Goods of Philadelphia.

Roberts Co. has an interesting history. William F. Roberts founded a Washington, D.C. based publisher responsible for many books in the period 1890-1940, including one of the earliest guides to raising Japanese Koi in 1909 (H.M. Smith's Japanese Goldfish, Their Varieties, and Cultivation).

At some point around 1910, like other companies of this kind (including Chicago's A.C. McClurg, another publisher) it expanded into general sporting goods wholesaling for a short period. As Roberts told the trade journal Printing Trade News in the April 7, 1914 issue, "Our photo goods and sports goods departments are now installed in 1411 New York avenue…" They were at it for a while; the publication Who's Who in the Nation's Capital for 1921 lists William F. Roberts as president of the "W.F. Roberts Co., engraving, printing, and sporting goods, 1514 H St."



The W.F. Roberts Co. used this stylized "R" logo on the copyright page of books they published.

Servicing a large number of independent retailers, the Roberts Co. jobbed their "R Special Brand" snells to an established sporting goods house in Philadelphia named L.H. Hartmann & Son, who branded the snell with a sticker. You might ask why Hartmann did not get their tackle from the nearby heavyweight wholesaler Ed. K. Tryon; I think it may have been because Roberts offered both radio and tackle, two major departments for Hartmann ca. 1920.



This sticker was used to brand the snelled packet for Hartmann.

L.H. Hartmann & Son was founded in 1904 by Louis H. Hartmann, the former gunsmith for the sporting goods house of Nelson & Mattson and erstwhile instructor at the Royal Shooting School in Sandau, Germany. He was a crack shot and something of a local icon in the shooting community. He was a sufficiently known national figure on the subject that an article in The Minneapolis Journal dated Nov. 21, 1901 featured an interview with Hartmann, who disputed the claim of local gunsmith P.J. Kennedy (of Kennedy Bros. Arms of St. Paul) that high power sporting rifles were inherently dangerous. Later, the journal Sporting Life wrote on February 21, 1914 that "L.H. Hartmann, the veteran gunmaker, who is secretary of the Scheutzen Park Gun Club, of Philadelphia, Pa., is being highly praised by local shooters for his work in building up trap shooting in that organization." Below is an advertisement for Hartmann dated March 7, 1914 and also from the Sporting Life magazine.



Hartmann also advertised in the 1919 Yearbook of the Ocean City Fishing Club:



Note that the firm claimed expertise in salt water tackle, offered repair of tackle, and trafficked in live bait (and even offered 10% discount to Ocean City Fishing Club members).

The angler who purchased these snells was given a really cool L.H. Hartmann & Sons envelope to put them in, which is just frosting on top of the cake for this particular snell. An original snell, with triple provenance, in the original retailer envelope? The only thing missing is the receipt.

I can't promise that all snells have a history as detailed as this, but we'll try and feature some of the neater ones over the coming months.

-- Dr. Todd

Voices from the Past: The Sucker in the Cypress (1903)

A remarkable story comes from the New Orleans Times-Democrat printed in May 1903 about a fish that lived in a tree. I present to you the story of The Sucker in the Cypress.

A Sucker in a Cypress.

A Story comes from Jeanerette, La., where about thirty pounds of fish were recently sawed out of the heart of a cypress log. The other day when the larger end of an immense cypress log was being passed under the saw of the mill of the Jeanerette Cypress Lumber Company, one of the millmen made the discovery that in a hollow of the log was some substance that was evidently extraordinary. His examination acquainted him with the fact that a large fish had been sawed up with the log. The log was one that had been cut about the usual distance from the ground, but which had a hollow on one side above where it had been cut. The hollow space opened out in a hole of a few inches in diameter on the side of the tree. The hollow space itself, however, was of ample dimensions. Occupying a great proportion of the space were the sawed remains of a large sucker, probably a "choupique," estimated to have weighed at least thirty pounds. The explanation that has been offered for the lodgment of the fish in so unexpected a place was that in high water when the hole in the side of the tree was below the surface of the water, a small fish got through the hole into the hollow. The fish failed to swim out of the hole before the water fell. Enough water remained in the hole at all times to permit the fish to live, and it "waxed fat" in its peculiar abode, and at least remained fresh, if not alive, when the log was being rafted and when it was run into the mill.

--Dr. Todd

The News of the Week

Don't have time to read 50+ fishing and tackle collecting blogs and web sites? Well, let us do it for you! Follow all of the latest news, articles, and stories on our Whitefishpress Twitter account! Hint: You don't need to be a member...just bookmark the Twitter Feed Page or click on latest links to the right!

THE MONDAY 10: The Ten Fishing Stories of the Week You Need to Know
The Big Lead: Dallas' Ray Sasser profiles vintage tackle.



The keepers of Hong Kong's fishing past.

More on the newest fly rod.


Bass Pro's Johnny Morris gives his best places go fish.



Rare Montauk Beach poster (with fisherman) goes for $12500.



Actress Amy Adams gives a Shakespeare fishing rod as a present.



Mark Foley teaches fly fishing.



The war on Rainbow Trout in the Yellowstone rages on.



The 2013 Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Award goes to Rich Chiappone.

Finishing with a Flourish: A great profile of Jeff Hatton and his unique rod collection.

-- Dr. Todd

1000 Words: Hollywood Goes Fishing

This month in Hollywood Goes Fishing we get a really cool press photo dated 1964 of the Beatles fishing in Seattle, Washington. I don't know if the Fab Four were big anglers, but at least in this photo they seem to be enjoying their piscatorial adventure.



-- Dr. Todd

Letterheadings: Philadelphia Bait Company (Part I)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Jordan has had to take a (hopefully) brief leave of absence from Letterheadings. Filling in for him until he gets back will be some guest posts from a pair of great fishing historians, Jim Garrett and Skip Brooks. Here is their first offering; many thanks to G & B for filling in at the last minute!

Hello Folks - for this session and the next couple we're going to discuss one of the major tackle producers of the Twentieth Century. Strangely, it is one of those companies that flies beneath the radar of many collectors. Anecdotal evidence indicates that Harry C. Kaufman was making fishing baits in his home as gifts and for sale at least as early as 1902. By May 1905 these baits were advertised in The Amateur Sportsman Magazine under the name of H. C. Kaufman & Co. located at 1835 Cumberland St.Philadelphia, Pa. We have not seen any correspondence from this early period. Whether this business failed or was voluntarily dissolved is unknown.

The Philadelphia Bait Company was the next variant of Kaufman's tackle endeavors. In July, 1906 he signed a three year lease to rent factory space on North Franklin St, Philadelphia. The Rent was paid until August 1907 when the company became insolvent. Anticipating that all would not end well, Kaufman began moving assets out of the factory to a new location in Strasburg, PA before they could be attached by the sheriff for payment of debts. Dozens of creditors were left comfortless when the company went under (i.e. E.K. Tryon Co. and the Supplee Hardware Co.). In characteristic Kaufman style Harry requested preferential treatment in his demands for $600 in salary he claimed the company owed him in back pay as its President.

Kaufman would rise again, like the Phoenix, to form a new tackle company headquartered in Strasburg, PA. Edwin Brown, principal of the Strasburg Public School, became his partner. Early correspondence from the company can be found dated as early as April 1910 but it was likely trading under the name, Pequea Works, at least a year or two earlier. A hand written pay roll dated 12 April, 1909 lists 25 employees in addition to Harry. Success at last! The company was known at various times as Pequea Works, Pequea Tribe and Pequea Fishing Tackle. These names and other variations were sometimes used simultaneously in the later years of the company. The company expanded rapidly buying manufacturing facilities at other nearby locations and by acquiring the Yale Metal Products Company located on Canal Street in Manhattan City, NY. Yale Metal Products was quickly moved to Strasburg for the production of reels and other tackle Ephemera. Edwin Brown died on the 19th day of April, 1941 and Harry bought his share of the company from the Brown estate. Harry Kaufman died in April of 1952. After a long and ultimately successful history the company was finally dissolved and sold at auction in 1986. At this auction dusty cardboard boxes detailing the life's blood correspondence of the company and its predecessors was scattered among eager bidders intent on owning a piece of its history.

In this segment, three of the four known styles of The Philadelphia Bait Company letterhead will be shown. The fourth style, not available to this writer, shows an early involvement by Edwin Brown in this company but his position is not detailed. Also shown is a blank stock certificate from the Philadelphia Bait Co. In the next two segments letterhead from Pequea and Yale Metal Products will be discussed.









-- Jim Garrett & Skip Brooks

The Friday Funhouse

The Video of the Week

Watch this bass inhale a lure while next to the boat!



12 Things I Would Buy If Only I Could Afford Them

Man this Heddon Magnum Torpedo is something else.



This Heddon Punkinseed in Goldfish Shore in the box is superb.



This Alfred & Son reel is very old and very rare.



Jan Cummings can make a pretty tasty shrimp.



Love this intro CCBC 100.



This 1953 CCBC catalog has attracted a LOT of interest.



I love all these Gregory baits.



This DAM lure from Germany is cool.



It's been a banner week for Cocktail Kickers.



LOVE LOVE LOVE this French glass minnow trap!



This Heddon 300 is a neat find.



Instant Collection Alert: Daiwa reels.



As always, have a great weekend -- and be good to each other, and yourself!
-- Dr. Todd